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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

Since I use Debian-Sarge on an old laptop, I see everywhere I look in the forums the same problems.
And I ask me why? Why do we have to answer questions we do not know the answer to, and answering, make everything worse?
While during the install everything is automatically adjusted....
I simply cannot figure this out....

Like the wheel-mouse i didn't have while installing, and wanting to use.......
All my video-adjustments where allright, and now everything is messed up!

I cannot understand why, if you want to change your mouse, you have to reconfigure your xserversettings.....

And if I do, and answer the question about activating the mouse wheel with: 'Yes' , it still does not save it:
Mouse-wheel: 0

Now I only have cli, so donot need the mouse anymore.....
F**k! How can I make things right again?
Total reinstall, just for changing the mouse?

I do not know if some programmers get to see this message...
mouse-emu does not work....
(knoppix recognises any mice)

What is the command for the automated hardware-choice?

xdebconfigurator is not complete, speaks of ddcprobe, which is not available.....

even DSL (Damn Small Linux) recognizes and configures my wheel-mouse without any problem......

But I love my Debian! So probably i will install again, and get better at it every time...

One thing I know for sure: Many people would have less problems if there was better hardware detection assimilated into the debian installer (2.4) or a replacement update that would work.....

Yeah definetly back up your xserver config file. Just back up your whole /etc directory while your at it. Just make sure that permissions are set so that just anyone can't read it. There are a lot of sensitive data in there.

I agree that hardware detection is one of the few places where debian is a bit weak. Your problem is probably something to do with the monitor settings. Make sure horiz and vert refresh rates are correct and that you have the right resolution set in XF86Config. Also could the wrong video driver. Also I think there are two config files in there, maybe the right one is something like XF86Config-4. Not at my system right now so I can't say for sure.

Once you get X back up then you can try dpkg-reconfigure to get the mouse set up (but back up the conf file first)

Originally posted by ssfrstlstnm Yeah definetly back up your xserver config file. Just back up your whole /etc directory while your at it. Just make sure that permissions are set so that just anyone can't read it. There are a lot of sensitive data in there.

I agree that hardware detection is one of the few places where debian is a bit weak. Your problem is probably something to do with the monitor settings. Make sure horiz and vert refresh rates are correct and that you have the right resolution set in XF86Config. Also could the wrong video driver. Also I think there are two config files in there, maybe the right one is something like XF86Config-4. Not at my system right now so I can't say for sure.

Once you get X back up then you can try dpkg-reconfigure to get the mouse set up (but back up the conf file first)

Yep you are all right in this....(sigh)....
But as the kamikaze I am, dpkg-reconfigure is in my backpocket! (allmost..(!)

Why reconfigure the entire x-server just to tweak the mouse settings a little..

break out your text editor (vim, emacs, nano, pico or whatever ), backup the config file ( /etc/X11/XFree86-4.conf or /etc/X11/xorg.conf ) and edit the mouse settings manually. the configureation script is for quick and dirty setup I've always tweaked the file after setup was complete to correct the monitor settings, available resolutions or mouse settings. the config script settings worked but were not exactly what I wanted..

and yes the hardware support in the 2.4 kernel is weak, which is why I install Debian with the 2.6 kernel by using the linux26 option at the boot prompt during install...

Mouse wheel doesn't work? Open a terminal window, type "su" to become root and then type "nano /etc/X11/XF86Config-4". This will open the X configuration file in a text editor called "nano". Then you can scroll the page down with arrow key until you see this text: Section "InputDevice".
In my X configuration file that section looks like this:

The line that mentions ZAxisMapping is the one that enables mouse wheel. If your XF86Config-4 misses that line, then you can copy the line from the above example. After editing the file, hit "Ctrl" and "x" keys simultaneously to exit the text editor and then press "y" and "Enter" to save the edited file. You need to restart X server before changes take effect (just hit "Ctrl", "Alt" and "Backspace" keys at the same time).

Originally posted by farslayer Why reconfigure the entire x-server just to tweak the mouse settings a little..

break out your text editor (vim, emacs, nano, pico or whatever ), backup the config file ( /etc/X11/XFree86-4.conf or /etc/X11/xorg.conf ) and edit the mouse settings manually. the configureation script is for quick and dirty setup I've always tweaked the file after setup was complete to correct the monitor settings, available resolutions or mouse settings. the config script settings worked but were not exactly what I wanted..

and yes the hardware support in the 2.4 kernel is weak, which is why I install Debian with the 2.6 kernel by using the linux26 option at the boot prompt during install...

Helas, for my Pll 366 Celeron 'Mendocino', was 2.6 not an option, if you understand what I mean....

Originally posted by Dead Parrot Mouse wheel doesn't work? Open a terminal window, type "su" to become root and then type "nano /etc/X11/XF86Config-4". This will open the X configuration file in a text editor called "nano". Then you can scroll the page down with arrow key until you see this text: Section "InputDevice".
In my X configuration file that section looks like this:

The line that mentions ZAxisMapping is the one that enables mouse wheel. If your XF86Config-4 misses that line, then you can copy the line from the above example. After editing the file, hit "Ctrl" and "x" keys simultaneously to exit the text editor and then press "y" and "Enter" to save the edited file. You need to restart X server before changes take effect (just hit "Ctrl", "Alt" and "Backspace" keys at the same time).

Thank you for this advice, I am allmost sure this'll work!
I will get back here to tell you that this (hopefully) most valuable input did the trick!

(y're name reminds me of Monty Python Flying Circus: 'Hey Miss, I want to make a complaint: The Parrot you sold me, is an ex....etc..)

Maybe because the version I've downloaded doesn't support something..
I tried this option, but could not connect to download the nessesary files...
So I quit the install....and choose 24...

2.4 with Icewm is realy small and fast! I do not want to loose this speed, and the space, I only have 4,5 Gig HD.
I am used to AMD 2800+ Athlon 64 bit (1802MHz), and PlV 1,8 GHz. I use 2.6 Kernells there, SuSE 10.0, and Knoppix 3.9. And I must say that DSL 2.0.1 also uses 2.4, looks good, and is incredibly fast on this old and slow machine...its a 386 version though....

I don't know very much about kernels, but I do know that you do not have to reinstall Debian (ie, "everything") to update to a new kernel.

I also can't resist making a comment about your initial complaint. I don't see how you could possibly have been searching the forums much if you haven't yet run across DeadParrot's solution. This seems to be one of the most frequently asked and answered questions around. By reading here and searching Google I've managed now to configure my 7-button MS IntelliMouse Optical to not only scroll, but also to use "forward" and "back" in many applications such as Firefox. (That's why I use "6 7" instead of "4 5" for ZAxisMapping.)

I seldom ever run dpkg-reconfigure to make changes. I have several backups of /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 and am accumulating plenty of comments, because I have been editing the file a lot and inserting comments so that I don't forget what I changed and why.

Below I've pasted the settings I'm currently using for my mouse. Keep in mind that this is a Microsoft Intellimouse Optical, and you may have to change it for your mouse. Notice that I've made other changes in the past that are now commented out, namely "Configured Mouse" and "Generic Mouse". You need to know that when you change the Identifier entry (in this case I changed it to "IntelliMouse Optical"), you need to also modify the corresponding entry in Section "Server Layout" near the end of the file.

Making these changes sometimes caused X to fail to load. When that happened, I would simply log in to the terminal as root and try something else, using older backed-up XF86Config-4 files for comparison. I discovered this way that the Option "CorePointer" entry is necessary.

I followed these instructions successfully, but not without trial and error. The 63xmodmap file (I had to create one) was giving me an error, so I deleted it and tried the commands at the prompt. Upon entering $BINARY -k -p -b "6 7" it said that the -p switch was deprecated, so I removed it. (Btw, I learned through this excercise that BINARY is being used as a variable that stands for imwheel in this case.) I also found some other references that listed "67" instead of "6 7", so I tried that. Now it works. Here is the content of my newly created file:

Originally posted by michapma I don't know very much about kernels, but I do know that you do not have to reinstall Debian (ie, "everything") to update to a new kernel.

I also can't resist making a comment about your initial complaint. I don't see how you could possibly have been searching the forums much if you haven't yet run across DeadParrot's solution. This seems to be one of the most frequently asked and answered questions around.

I joined this forum yesterday, and I have to get used to read very much, and carefull, and take more time than I am used to..... I appologize for not knowing certain things yet, but I am very willing and able to learn......

Quote:

By reading here and searching Google I've managed now to configure my 7-button MS IntelliMouse Optical to not only scroll, but also to use "forward" and "back" in many applications such as Firefox. (That's why I use "6 7" instead of "4 5" for ZAxisMapping.)

I am very thankfull for this tip, because I own one on my Knoppix 3.9, which is as you will know also Debian..

Quote:

I seldom ever run dpkg-reconfigure to make changes. I have several backups of /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 and am accumulating plenty of comments, because I have been editing the file a lot and inserting comments so that I don't forget what I changed and why.

Yes mistakes have to be made, else there will be no progress.....for me there's yet much to learn, luckily....

Quote:

Below I've pasted the settings I'm currently using for my mouse. Keep in mind that this is a Microsoft Intellimouse Optical, and you may have to change it for your mouse. Notice that I've made other changes in the past that are now commented out, namely "Configured Mouse" and "Generic Mouse". You need to know that when you change the Identifier entry (in this case I changed it to "IntelliMouse Optical"), you need to also modify the corresponding entry in Section "Server Layout" near the end of the file.

Making these changes sometimes caused X to fail to load. When that happened, I would simply log in to the terminal as root and try something else, using older backed-up XF86Config-4 files for comparison. I discovered this way that the Option "CorePointer" entry is necessary.

I followed these instructions successfully, but not without trial and error. The 63xmodmap file (I had to create one) was giving me an error, so I deleted it and tried the commands at the prompt. Upon entering $BINARY -k -p -b "6 7" it said that the -p switch was deprecated, so I removed it. (Btw, I learned through this excercise that BINARY is being used as a variable that stands for imwheel in this case.) I also found some other references that listed "67" instead of "6 7", so I tried that. Now it works. Here is the content of my newly created file:

At no time in all of this did I use dpkg-reconfigure to implement changes.

I am glad the path is shown now, changes only have to be made if nessesary, and if one don't, he/she's allways confronted with shortage, and annoyance...
In my family, there are many machines, using all kind of OS's, network works, most of the time......
I have put my two sons on the path years ago, now they're also slowly turning from windows..
In my house everybody owns a laptop, (including my wife), and there are two desktops, AMD and P4, Home network owns about 250Gig. Maintaining all this takes time..
The Toshiba Satellite-2550CDT, subject of this thread, is mine, so all spare-time is used to get experienced, and skilled. To be armed for my hobby: Turning people of windows, towards Linux. (I am old Amiga-user, turned to windows in '95....
And let me tell you: Two decades of MS is more than enough! I was Lost+Found)......